We Are Mermaids: Poems (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781644452059)

Effusive new poems by Stephanie Burt, "perhaps our greatest poet of having yet more to say" (Boston Review)

Stephanie Burt's poems in We Are Mermaids are never just one thing. Instead, they revel in their multiplicity, their interconnectedness, their secret powers to become much more than they at first seem. In these poems, punctuation marks make arguments for their utility and their rights to exist. Frozen isn't simply another Disney animated musical but "the Most Trans Movie Ever." Mermaids, werewolves, and superheroes don't just fret over divided natures and secret identities, but celebrate their wholeness, their unique abilities, and their erotic potential. Flowers in this collection bloom into exactly what they are meant to be--revealing themselves, like bleeding hearts, beyond their given names.

With humor and insight, Burt's poems have always cherished and examined the things of this world, both real and imagined objects of fascination and desire. In this resplendent new collection, her observation and care flourish into her most fulfilled book yet. These poems shake off indecisiveness and doubt to reach joys through romance and family, through nature (urban and otherwise), and through imaginative community. We Are Mermaids is a trans book, a fangirl book, a book about coming together. It's also Burt's best book.

Author: Stephanie Burt
ISBN-10: 1644452057
ISBN-13: 9781644452059
Publisher: Graywolf Press
Language: English
Published: 10/04/2022
Pages: 120
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.42lbs
Size: 8.95h x 6.53w x 0.28d

Review Citation(s):
Library Journal Prepub Alert 07/01/2022 pg. 10
Publishers Weekly 08/15/2022